Sun.’s Devo - The God Who Hears

Read: Genesis 16:1-18:15; Matthew 6:1-24; Psalm 7:1-17; Proverbs 2:1-5 It had been 10 years since Abram and Sarai settled in Canaan and she had still not had a baby. She decided that the problem was with her so she encouraged Abram to have a baby through her servant Hagar. Abram agreed and slept with Hagar. *** When Hagar became pregnant, she treated Sarai with contempt and return Sarai treated Hagar so harshly that she finally ran away. *** An Angel met Hagar on the road and told her to return to her mistress and submit to her authority. God would give her more descendants than she could count. She was pregnant with a son and was to name him Ishmael which means “God hears”. God had heard her cries of distress. Ishmael would be a wild man and everyone would be against him and vice versa. He would live in close proximity to his kin. Hagar then called on the name of the Lord. *** She went home and bore a son and they named him Ishmael. Abram was 86 years old. *** Thirteen years later the Lord appeared to Abram and renewed his covenant with him. He changed his name to Abraham because he would become a father of many nations. He would be exceedingly fruitful and kings would come from his family. He would confirm his covenant to the future generations and give them the land he was only a stranger in. All the Land of Canaan would be their possession forever. He would be their God. *** To confirm the covenant, all the male in his household including himself and his servants must be circumcised. He gave Sarai a new name of Sarah and told him that she would also have a baby from her womb at a set time that next year. They were to name him Isaac. God would establish his covenant with him forever. Ishmael would also be blessed and fruitful he would beget 12 princes and become a great nation. *** Some time later, three angels came through where Abraham was staying and they fed them and sat with them. One of the angels told Abraham that Sarah would have a son. She heard what he said and laughed within herself. The angel heard the silent laugh and told her that nothing was too hard for the Lord. She denied laughing but was rebuked for lying. *** Circumcision is a picture of the cross and salvation. They were circumcised and received new names showing that they were born again and then they became fruitful. The curse over Sarah’s body was taken away and she became fruitful. *** Jesus continued his sermon and told them how to live to please God which was the opposites of how their spiritual leaders were doing it. Then he gave them a model prayer which emphasized honoring God above all and forgiving others. Our spiritual lives is not to be displayed to show our righteousness but our lives are to reflect it quietly by the works of our heart. Lord, may we live our lives to reveal the goodness of God and his righteousness. Thank you for the covenant of salvation we have with you.

Sat.’s Devo - Lot’s Rescue

Read: Genesis 13:5-15:21; Matthew 5:27-48; Psalm 6:1-10: Proverbs 1:29-33 Lot had cattle from the inheritance of his father. The land they were staying could not support both Abram and Lot’s cattle so they decided to split up and go different directions. Abram had him pick the land he wanted first and Lot chose the land with cities already established in it. Abram would go toward the east. But, before Abram left that space, God told him to look all around him because He would give him and his descendants all of the land. *** Lot settled near Sodom where the men were very wicked toward the Lord. Five of the kings went up against 4 other kings and Sodom’s king was among them. The five kings lost to the other four and they took all the plunder of Sodom and all the people captive. Abram found out and came to the rescue with his trained soldiers numbering 318. They defeated the kings, got back all the plunder and freed Lot and his family. The king of Sodom met Abram. Also the king of Salem, Melchizedek came to meet Abram. Melchizedek was the priest of God. *** Melchizedek blessed Abram and God. Abram gave him a tithe of all he had gotten. *** The king of Sodom asked Abram for the people of Sodom and told him he would give him all the spoils. Abram refused to keep the spoils saying he would never let the glory of his wealth go to this evil king. ***The Lord came back to Abram in a vision and told him he would be his shield and his exceeding great reward. Abram told him that the only heir he had was his servant Eliezer. God told him his heir would come from his own body. He told him his descendants would number the stars in the sky. *** God confirmed it by waling through the meat of his sacrifice. He showed him a burning torch and a smoking oven. He made a covenant with Abram saying his descendants would be given the land of the “ite’s” of Canaan From the River of Egypt to the Euphrates. *** In Matthew, Jesus continues his great sermon about the 10 Commandments in the age of grace. He teaches that the law is so much deeper than the written decree. It is a matter of the heart. If they obey their heart and let love lead them, they will not have any fear of breaking any of God’’s laws. *** Jesus taught them forgiveness and generosity as well as love and humility. The one that probably surprised them the most was to love their enemies and bless them. Be good to those who spitefully hated them. This kind of response guarantees that they are the sons and daughters of God. *** Lord may we love from our heart and give generously. May we be known as the sons and daughters of the Most High God.

Fri.’s Devo - May We Be One

Read: Genesis 11:1-13:4; Matthew 5:1-12; Psalm 5:1-11; Proverbs 1:24-28 The sons of Ham went toward the east and settled in the land of Shinar. They all spoke the same language and came up with a plan to make a portal to heaven. They built a ziggurat laying brick upon brick. They wanted to make a name for themselves and be great on the earth. *** God saw that they would accomplish their mission since they were all of one mind and this would be just the beginning. Nothing they proposed would be possible. God had to intervene so he went down and confused their languages so they wouldn’t be able to communicate. They ended up quitting the project and scattering over the face of the earth. *** Abram came from Shem’s descendants. His father, Terah had three sons, Abram, Nahor and Haran. Abram was the oldest. His youngest brother, Haran had a son named Lot then Haran died. Terah took Abram and his wife Sarai, Lot and Nahor and his wife, Milcah and traveled toward Canaan. They ended up stopping at a place named after their brother that had died. Terah ended up dying there. *** God told Abram to continue his journey to Canaan and he would make a great nation of him there. Abram took Sarai and Lot and they all their possessions and servants and left Haran. Abram was 75 years old. *** When Abram got to Shechem the Lord appeared to Abram and told him that this was the land he would given him. Abram built an altar to the Lord and then moved to Bethel. He built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord. *** There was a famine in that land so Abram went down to Egypt where there was food. He told Sarai to tell everyone the was his brother since she was so beautiful and he was afraid they would kill him for her. She was spotted and taken to the Pharaoh’s harem. Abram was given sheep, oxen and donkey as well as servants in exchange for Sarai. *** God plagued the house of Pharaoh with plagues making it was obvious it was because he had taken Sarai. He called Abram in and scolded him for not telling him Sarai was his wife. He sent him away with Sarai and he left very rich. Abram went back to Bethel where he had made the altar and called on the name of the Lord again. *** If we learned anything from this it is that when people are of one mind, nothing will be impossible for them. *** Jesus went on a mountain in the region of Capernaum and began preaching. He blessed the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hungered and thirsted for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and those who are persecuted for righteousness sake and for his name. These people would inherit the kingdom of heaven and the earth. They would be comforted, be filled with righteousness, obtain mercy, see God and be called his sons. They can rejoice because their reward in heaven is great just like the prophets before them. *** Lord, thank you for your true and precious promises. May we be one in building your kingdom.

Thurs.’s Devo - God’s Covenant

Read: Genesis 8:1-10:32; Matthew 4:12-25; Psalm 4:1-8; Proverbs 1:20-23 God caused a wind to dry up the earth and the waters were abated. The ark landed on top of Mt. Ararat which means “the curse reversed”. It had been 150 days since the flood started. *** Noah and his family ended up staying on the ark over a year. He had entered at the age of 600 and it was the 17th of the second month. He exited at the age of 601 on the 27th day of the second month. He set the animals free then offered God a sacrifice of the animals he had brought for that purpose. God accepted the offering and said he would never destroy every living thing again. As long as the earth remains there will be seasons. *** God blessed Noah and told them to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. He put fear of man in the heart of all the animals and told him that he could now eat meat. The only stipulation was that the animal had to be dead first. Any animal or man who killed another man, would by man be killed because man was made in the image of God. *** God covenanted with man and animal that he would never destroy the earth with a flood. He set his rainbow in the cloud as a sign of this covenant. *** Noah and his three sons planted a vineyard and Noah drank wine from it and got drunk. He lay in his tent drunk and naked. Ham saw it and told his brothers. They took a cover and walked backwards so they wouldn’t see their father’s nakedness. *** When Noah awoke he knew in his spirit what had happened. He cursed Ham’s descendant which was Canaan. He would be a servant to his brethren. The prophesy came true when the descendants of Shem took the promised land and made the people of Canaan their servants. *** Shem’s descendants were the Syrians, Persians, Lydians. They represented those that would become the true worshipers of God which now represent the true Eklesia of Christ. They were the children of Israel who took the promised land. *** Japheth’s descendants ended up primarily in Europe and Asia. They included the Greeks, Medes, Scythians and upper Turkey. *** Ham’s descendants became the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Philistines, Egyptians and Africans. We get all the notable sinners in his group like Nimrod, Babel, Babylon, and Nineveh. *** In Matthew, Jesus learned that John the Baptist had been put in prison. He left where he was and went to the land of Zebulun and Naphtali to Galilee which was the land of the Gentiles. He began preaching John’s message of repentance. *** While Jesus was walking along the sea of Galilee he saw two brothers, Simon Peter and Andrew casting their net into the sea. He told them to follow him and he would make them fishers of men. They immediately left their nets and followed him. *** Jesus then came upon another two brothers who were mending their nets and told them to follow him. They immediately left their nets and began following him. Jesus went all around Galilee teaching in the synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom. He healed all kinds of sickness and disease and became very well known. He delivered those who had demons and freed the epileptic and set free the paralyzed. Many people followed Jesus. *** Lord, may we be as willing as the first disciples to follow you wherever you take us. May we not be afraid to cast out demons and set people free.

Wed.’s Devo - The Flood

Read: Genesis 5:1-7:24; Matthew 3:7-4:11; Psalm 3:1-8; Proverbs 1:10-19 Adam’s genelogy up to the flood was written. The men averaged 900 years old. What strikes me as how old they were when they had their first child. Sixty-five was the youngest but most were over one hundred. Noah was 500 before he had his three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. *** As men began to multiply on the earth, sin and corruption followed. The fallen angels of Satan desired to have sex with the human women and came down to earth and married some of them. Their off-spring were the Nephalim who became famous warriors during their day. They were half-demons/ half-humans. The book of Enoch says that they taught humans all kinds of wicked behavior as well as how to make weapons of mass destruction and hallucinogenic drugs. *** God took an account of all the wickedness on the earth and saw that every thought of man was evil and decided to wipe the human race off the face of the earth along with the animals. But then he saw Noah, who was righteous and blameless. Noah walked with God so God told him his plans. He was going to destroy every living thing from the earth but he wanted him to preserve humanity. He told him to build a ark and cover it with pitch. He gave him the exact dimensions of every level and just how to construct it. *** God told Noah He was sending a flood. Noah was to preserve his wife and three sons and their wives and two of every animal - a male and a female. He was to take seven of animals to be sacrificed later. It took him years to build but when he was 600 years old, the rains began to fall. It was the 17th day of the second month. The rain came down in torrents and continued for 40 days. On the day it began, Noah and his family along with the animals, entered the boat. God closed the door. The waters rose higher and higher until every living person and animal on the earth was destroyed. The waters covered the earth for 150 days. *** In Matthew, John the Baptist was out in the wilderness baptizing people who repented of their sins. The Pharisees had come to see what was going on and John confronted them. He asked them who had warned them of the wrath of God which was coming. Then he told them that they had to repent and show by their actions that they had repented. He quoted Malichi saying that God was going to cleanse his threshing floor and burn up the chaff with fire. (In other words God was going to judge the people in the Temple). *** Jesus came to John to be baptized and John was intimidated and thought it should be the other way around. But Jesus explained that he had to fulfill the law of righteousness. So John baptized him. When Jesus came up from the water, the heavens opened and John saw the Spirit of God descending on Jesus like a dove that alighted on him. John heard God say, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” *** Jesus was immediately led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He had fasted for 40 days and nights and was hungry. Satan first tempted him to turn to the stones to bread. Satan wanted Jesus to obey him. Jesus was sent to do that very thing - take the law written on stone tablets and make it palpable bread for all to eat. But he was going to do it on God’s command, not Satan’s. He told him that Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds from he mouth of God. The Word had to come from God’s mouth. *** Then the devil took Jesus into the holy city and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple and told him that if he was indeed the Son of God he could throw himself down and his angels would catch him and keep him from harm. Jesus answered that He was not to tempt the Lord. He wasn’t falling for the dare. *** The third time, the devil took him on a high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and told him he would given them to him if he would fall down and worship him. Jesus sent him away sayin he would only worship the Lord and serve him. The devil left and God’s angels came and ministered to Jesus. *** Our Proverbs for the day tells us what to do when we are being tempted by our peers. We are to turn our backs on them. Don’t go along with them. There deeds will rob them of their life. Lord, may we take your way of escape when being tempted to go the wrong way. May we walk on your path and keep our eyes on you.

Tues.’s Devo - God’s Plan Endures

Read: Genesis 3:1-4:26; Matthew 2:13-3:6; Psalm 2:1-12; Proverbs 1:7-9 The serpent tricked Eve into eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil by telling her it would make her wise like God. Revelation 20:2 identifies the serpent as Satan. Eve turned and gave the fruit to Adam who with full knowledge of the consequences ate the fruit also. *** That evening when God came to visit with them, Adam and Eve hid because they realized immediately after they ate the fruit that they were naked and they were ashamed. When God asked them who told them they were naked they began blaming. Adam blamed Eve who blamed the serpent. *** God cured the serpent to crawl on his belly and grovel in the dust. There would be hostility between the serpent and the offspring of women. Man would strike his head and he would strike man’s heal. *** Woman’s curse would be pain in childbirth. She would desire to rule her husband but he would be over her. *** God cursed the ground so that Adam would have to toil to produce anything but thorns. Man would return to dust when he died. *** God made tunics for Adam and Eve to wear and sent them out of the Garden of Eden lest they ate of the tree of life and stayed in that state forever. God put a cherubim with a flaming sword to guard the way of the tree of life. *** Adam and Eve had two sons who were named Cain and Abel. Abel watched over sheep and Cain tilled the ground that was cursed. They both brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of their labor. Abel brought a firstborn lamb and Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground. God respected Abel’s sacrifice but Cain’s was not respected. Cain was very angry and God warned him not to sin. Sin desired to conquer him but he needed to rule over it. Cain lost that battle and killed his brother Abel. *** God came to Cain and asked him where his brother was. Cain lied and told God he was not his brother’s keeper. God cursed Cain to be a fugitive and vagabond on the earth. He marked Cain so no one would kill him. Cain went and lived in the land of Nod which means “wandering”. *** Later Cain and his wife had a son named Enoch. He built a city in his name. Enoch had a son named Irad. Irad had a son named Mehujael and Mehujael had a son named Methushael. Methushael had a son named Lamech. Lamech had two wives: Adah and Zilch. Adah bore Jabal and Jubal and Zillah bore Tubal-cain and a sister named Naamah. Lamech killed a man in self-defense and feared revenge. *** Meanwhile Adam and Eve had another son named Seth to replace Abel. Seth had a son and named him Enosh. This is when men began to call on the name of the Lord. *** In Matthew, Joseph was warned in a dream to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt just in time. Herod realized he had been tricked by the wise men and set out to destroy any boy two years and younger to be sure he was killing the coming king. So sad! *** When Herod had died, God gave Joseph another dream that it was safe to come back. He ended up staying in Nazareth just like the prophets foretold. *** Years later, John the Baptist began preaching in the wilderness of Judea. He preached for the people to repent for the kingdom of heaven was at hand. He was the voice Isaiah had prophesied would cry from the wilderness. He would prepare the way for the Lord. People from Jerusalem, Judea and the region around the Jordan went to hear what he had to say. *** Man cannot mess up God’s plan for the world. Adam and Eve messed it up. Cain tried to kill it. Herod tried to kill it. But, God always makes a way. God covered Adam and Eve’s sin with a sacrifice of animals. He took the skins of the animals and covered their nakedness. God gave Seth as a replacement for Abel and gave Joseph a dream to save Jesus from Herod. We have nothing to fear! *** Lord, thank you for your loving kindness on your off-spring. Thank you that you save us from death, hell and ourselves. You cover us with your righteousness and give us eternal life. Hallelujah!

Mon.'s Devo - 1-1-24

Happy New Year!!! Every year I ask for a word for the year and this year it is more than one word. It is “healing for the nations”. Our Psalm today talks about us being trees of righteousness by the water that bring forth fruit for every season. Our leaves will not die or wither. Revelation 22 says: Revelation 22:1-2 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. This is what I believe God wants to do this year. He wants to heal our families, our nation and our hearts. He wants his righteous Church to become trees of righteousness to heal the nations with their leaves. Our leaves are like our hands and the works of our hands. Mon’s Devo - 1-1-24 Read: Genesis 1:1-2:25; Matthew 1:1-2:12; Psalm 1:1-6; Proverbs 1:1-6 The account of creation is full of concepts about God. He took a formless empty earth and breathed life into it and created a beautiful place for man to dwell. That is what he does to every sinner who comes to him. He breathes his life into their formless dead soul and creates life and transforms them into the beautiful person they were meant to be. *** God placed the sun to represent him and told it to rule the day. We as his children are children of the day. He placed the moon in the sky to rule the night and children of the night are Satan’s off-spring. They do their evil works at night. We get the word “lunatic” from “lunar”. *** God created man in his image to rule the earth. God planted a garden in Eden and placed man in the garden. It had everything Adam would need. God also placed two trees in the middle of the garden. One was the tree of life and one was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God told Adam that he must never eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil but he could eat of the tree of life and all the other trees in the garden. *** He wanted man to have a mate so he had Adam name the animals. Adam realized for himself that he had no help meet. God then put Adam to sleep and took a rib from his side to create the woman. He wanted her to be from him. Adam was very pleased. *** God does the same thing with us. He arranges circumstances where we can realize a need we have but we have to ask for it. Then God can give it to us. God wants relationship with us. *** In Matthew we have the genealogy of Joseph, Jesus’ father. He was of the lineage of David. Joseph had asked Mary to marry him. Before they were married, she became pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Joseph didn’t understand that this was the Lord so he planned to break the engagement quietly as not to embarrass her family. *** The angel of the Lord came to see Joseph and told him not to be afraid to marry Mary for she was indeed pregnant by the Holy Spirit and she would have a son they were to name Jesus. He would save God’s people from their sins. This was what Isaiah had prophesied. *** Joseph married Mary and when he was born, Joseph named him Jesus. He was born in Bethlehem during the time King Herod reigned. Wise men came to see Herod from the east saying they had seen a star denoting a king was born for the Jews. They knew the king was in Bethlehem. King Herod slyly told them to go and find the king then come tell him so he could go and worship him also. *** The wise men followed the star and it led them to Joseph and Mary and Jesus. When they saw them they bowed down and worshipped. They gave him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. They left another way because an angel had warned them not to go back and tell Herod where the king was. *** Lord, may we be trees of righteousness that bring healing to the nations. May we bear the fruit of the Spirit.